1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to the reforming of deformed channelizer drums as used in road construction or maintenance. Such drums are often deformed when impacted by vehicular traffic in construction zones.
2. Description of Related Art
Channelizer drums are used to indicate a path for motorists during road construction or maintenance. Due to the close proximity to vehicles, these drums are routinely deformed during impact with said vehicles. The drums are designed to be reformed after an impact. If a drum is lightly deformed, it can generally be reformed by rolling it along the ground using ones hands to reshape the drum. If the drum is more severely deformed, it requires an increased effort using other methods. These methods may include kicking the drum from the inside, beating the inside of the drum with a shovel, lumber or similar object. If the damage is severe, the drum is generally discarded. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a system to quickly reform all conditions of said channelizer drums.
A typical channelizer drum used in the United States is tapered from an upper diameter of approximately 18 inches to a lower diameter of approximately 20 inches with a height of approximately 40 inches. The top of a channelizer drum is closed and includes a handle and mounting holes for use with lights or other devices. The drums are often made of low or high density polyethylene polymers and are wrapped with bands reflective sheeting. Typical channelizer traffic control devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,710,053 and 5,234,280. The bottom of a channelizer drum is open when not attached to a ballasted base. There exist many slight variations to this basic shape, but for the purposes of this invention, this approximate configuration will be assumed.
Each of the shown and discussed embodiments of this invention relate to the mounting of said invention to a rigid mounting structure, such as a motor vehicle. One mounting system illustrated and described is a typical square trailer hitch mounting system. A typical trailer hitch receiver is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,768,837.